


Chess Confessions

by ClockworkQuill



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Angst, Compliant to either Star Trek TOS or AOS, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, References to Kodos the Executioner, Tarsus IV, except one line, in the past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 08:58:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13760694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClockworkQuill/pseuds/ClockworkQuill
Summary: "Jim, who taught you chess?"





	Chess Confessions

**Author's Note:**

> I attempted to write fluff to cheer myself up and failed. Angst with a dash of comfort.
> 
>  
> 
> 9/8/2018 now crossposted to FFN and KS archive! Also I changed the rating to Teen and Up, because really thats where it should have been in the first place.

Spock had always wondered, but had never bothered before to ask. “Jim, who taught you chess?”

Jim dropped the piece in his hand, pushed back from the table so fast and hard the chair went clattering to the floor. Before he turned away, Spock saw just a glimpse of Jim’s face, distorted as it was in anguish.

“I did not mean to distre-”

“No, it’s not your fault Spock.” Jim’s voice was hard and distant. There was no emotion in his voice. He walked over to where Jim’s collection of paper books were displayed, ran his hands over the well-loved possessions. 

Spock wondered if he should go to Jim, try to comfort him.

“I try not to think about him. For a while we were very close. He was a teacher, one of the first ones that didn’t just write me off as a trouble maker. He was one of the first adults that ever actually listened to me.” Jim pulled a book down from the shelf. Even on the other side of Jim’s quarters Spock recognized it. A battered copy of Hamlet. “He gave me this,” Jim’s hands traced over the cover almost reverently as he turned back to Spock. “He taught me how to play chess.”

Jim walked back over to the table where they always played chess, where Spock was still sitting. He righted his chair but didn’t sit down. Jim handed Spock the play.

Spock took it, fingertips just brushing Jim’s. The emotional turmoil Spock felt from the brief touch was shocking.

“For a while I wished he was my father.”

Jim took a step back then, and turned around. the took off his shirt, setting it on the chair he normally occupied.

Jim’s back was covered in old scars, think and raised, especially where they overlapped or crossed each other. “He gave me these too.”

Spock was standing behind Jim by the time he thought about moving. “May I?” he asked, hand hovering just behind Jim.

Jim nodded and swallowed, a bit of emotion leaking into his face once more.

Spock gently one of the longer scars from the base of Jim’s neck to his right hip. He could feel waves of anger, betrayal, disappointment, fear coming off the human, who trembled at Spock’s touch.

Jim turned to face Spock and they were too close, faces so close Spock could taste Jim’s breath. There were tears in Jim’s eyes now and his voice wavered when he spoke. “I, for a long time I thought he was the best thing to ever happen to me, and then he turned out to be a monster.” Jim closed his eyes and a sob tore through him, brushing against Spock’s front.

Spock wrapped his arms around Jim, pulling him tight to to his chest in firm hug.

They stand like that for a long time, before Jim pulls away just enough to look into Spock’s eyes. “It, it wasn’t the name I knew him by, at least not when he was good to me, but most people know him as Kodos.”

Spock just hugged Kirk again.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos, Comments and Criticism always welcome!
> 
> This is my 8th of 9 uploads today I am getting so tired of typing that, but its so true. 
> 
> Y'all can reach me at [ clockwork-quill ](https://clockwork-quill.tumblr.com) on tumblr!


End file.
